DP reserves same plot for cemetery, garden

The BMC has marked 650 designations/reservations for multi-purpose facilities in the draft DP 2034.(HT File Photo)

The civic body has introduced the concept of multiple reservations on one plot, stating that compatible users have been marked together. However, a garden and a cemetery marked on one plot in the Mandvi area in B ward, a retail market and a homeless shelter to be developed together in Bhuleshwar in C ward and other examples say otherwise.

Many such combined reservations involve activities that are not compatible, said activists. Some plots across the city have as many as four proposed uses.

There are about 650 designations/reservations that are marked for multi-purpose facilities in the draft DP 2034. C ward (Marine lines) has 43 multiple use reservations/designations and D ward (Girgaum and Malabar Hill areas) has 51. The K east ward (Andheri east) has 42. The civic body has marked the reservations on the draft DP maps with a plus sign next to the primary reservation. This has to be read along with a ward-wise DP report to see the secondary reservation, which makes it difficult for citizens to know the purpose of the plot.

A civic official involved in the DP revision process, who did not wish to be named, said, “As the city is short of space, we need to provide the citizens with the required amenity space and hence have introduced compatible reservations. They are mainly on municipal plots. We will be dividing the plots. The entries for various amenities will be different, so that different users have different access without any interference. The primary user of the plot will be given priority, but all the reservations marked on one plot will have to be developed. It is not optional.”

“The multiple reservation of the garden and cemetery has been pulled back from the 1991 DP,” he added.

Godfrey Pimenta from the Watchdog Foundation said, “This is a way to inflate the figures of public amenities by marking multiple reservations on one plot.”